Five Senses
by The biggest ikarishipping Fan
Summary: See, hear, smell, touch, and taste: We have eyes to see, ears to hear, a nose to smell, hands to feel, and a tongue to taste. Five senses, five days, five ways to find out if you're in love. Ikarishipping!
1. Gateway to the Soul

**Five Senses**

**Summary: **See, hear, smell, touch and taste: We have eyes to see, ears to hear, a nose to smell, hands to feel and a tongue to taste. Five senses, five days, five ways to find out if you're in love. Ikarishipping!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own pokemon. You'll know I own pokemon when Paul and Dawn start traveling together. But most likely I'm never going to own pokémon. D: (Unless they decide to do a spin-off series ;3). I also do not own any of the songs I put in this story.

* * *

**Day One  
****See**

"The eyes are the gateway to the soul."  
- Herman Melville

_"If you could only see the way she loves me; Then maybe you would understand; Why I feel this way about our love; And what I must do;  
__If you could only see how blue her eyes can be when she says; When she says she loves me."  
~If You Could Only See, Tonic_

_.x._

He saw her standing there, all alone.

Something about seeing her standing there all alone, without her friends, or even her annoying piplup who was usually out by her side, made him wonder: why _is_ she alone?

He watched her for a few minutes, letting the cool breeze play with his bangs as it did with her hair. She was near the edge of the cliff, on her knees, watching as the sun set behind Mt. Coronet, colors like pink, gold and red staining the ground, grass and the surface of Lake Valor.

There was a peaceful, tranquil atmosphere around her, cloaking her. Watching her Paul almost felt at peace, like she obviously must have been. Despite the tranquility of everything though, Paul couldn't help but feel a little… lonely watching her. Waves of loneliness were washing over him, as if being transmitted to him, and suddenly he craved her company. Or some kind of company, at least.

Almost as if his mind and feet were on automatic, Paul started walking towards her. He was surprised she couldn't hear, or at least didn't notice the rustling of his footsteps on grass as he walked her way. Maybe she was too caught up in her own thoughts to notice anything, but what was in front of her.

When Paul's mind finally registered that he had walked up to her, he mentally cursed at himself, his mind racing for something to say.

"Hey, where's your friend?" he blurted after a few seconds, startling the poor girl.

She whipped around, her eyes wide. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was only Paul, but then as quickly as it came, anger quickly took the relief's place.

"Paul!" she yelled, standing up and placing her hands on her hips. "What are you doing here?"

Paul snorted impatiently. "I was on my way back to my hometown, Veilstone; I was going to stop here for the night and train my pokémon," he replied. "And I asked you a question: where's Ash?"

"Why should I tell you?" she snapped back.

"Somebody's crabby," he muttered, turning to walk away.

"Oh, and like you aren't crabby twenty four-seven!" she yelled back, stomping after him. A small growl escaped between Paul's lips, a scowl forming on his features as the girl irritated him further.

"What are _you_ doing here?" he asked in retaliation. "This is no place near your hometown as far as I know; did your boyfriend ditch you here or something?"

He turned around to face her, a cruel smirk sliding across his face. He took joy in seeing the shock expression that made her eyes widen and her jaw drop open. Anger soon replaced the shock though, burning in her ocean blue eyes like a wildfire in a forest that have gone with no rain for months.

"Ash didn't ditch me!" she hissed through clenched teeth, her nostrils flaring.

"Then where is he?" Paul shot back.

"None of your business!"

Paul grew annoyed as he watched the sun dip behind the mountains, night quickly falling over both of them.

"You're wasting my time," he told her, turning away. "I don't care where that loser is, or why you're even here; just stay out my way."

She was silent behind him, and Paul stopped for a few seconds, suddenly wondering if she heard him. He could hear rasping, heavy breathing.

"I will. I don't wanna see you anyway," she replied after a while. Despite the boldness of the words, the words sounded choked out. There was a roughness to her voice, like her breathing. It was as if she was struggling to keep her voice steady.

Paul turned his head a few degrees, and her saw her. She was slowly walking away, her head drooping and her feet dragging as she walked.

Confusion flooded him as he watched her, and he frowned. He felt a stab of pity in his stomach at the sight, a feeling he rarely felt nowadays.

Again like his mind and feet were on autopilot he walked briskly after the blue-haired girl.

"Hey!" he called.

She turned around to face him, her hair whipping her back.

"What do you want?" she questioned angrily, fists balled at her side.

Paul paid no attention to her anger though, nor her balled fists; his eyes connected with hers, and he gazed into them, unable to look away. Dawn yelped and took a step back as he grabbed her wrist, startled by his sudden contact. Even then he didn't look away.

Suddenly Paul saw everything: the mask her eyes held faded away, and he saw everything behind it. The anger and ferocity they previously held transitioned into fear, sadness and loneliness. Just as quickly as the mask fell, the mask was back up.

Paul's gaze softened.

"What are you doing? Get off of me!" she screamed.

"You're upset," he declared. His grip on her wrist softened and she pulled free, stumbling backward a few feet.

"No I'm not!" She yelled.

"Yes, you are," he persisted, his eyes hardening once more. He took a step toward her; she took another step back.

"No, I'm not!" she responded. Her lips quivered though, and Paul knew she was lying. Not that he didn't know she was lying in the first place anyway.

"What do I have to be upset about, huh?" she asked, glaring at him.

"Ash."

Dawn blinked at him, almost as if surprised. Her arms slowly dropped to her sides.

"And Brock."

Her chin trembled, and her hands slowly crawled upwards until both of them were placed over her heart.

"They left you. To go to another region, to start a new journey without you. You wanted to stay here, but you didn't want to hold them back, so you let them go on without you."

It was as if he had hit the bull's eye on the target.

Her face crumbled and her shoulders sagged; tears pricked the corner of her eyes.

"H-how…" she swallowed. "How do you know that?"

A pause.

"I could see it in your eyes," he replied.

Another pause.

He watched as she rubbed at her eyes, an arm wrapped tightly around her abdomen as if to protect or comfort herself.

"You must think I'm weak…" she whispered. A dry laugh escaped her lips, but it was short and sounded strangled. "Crying like this… You're probably thinking to yourself right now about how pathetic I am… How weak I am…"

"You're not weak," he responded quickly. The words escaped his mouth before he even had a chance to really think about them. Dawn stared at him, equally shocked.

"Y-yes I am!"

Paul sighed. "If I say you're not weak, _you are not weak._" He told her sternly.

She said nothing back in response.

She remained quiet for what felt like hours, even days, to Paul.

The night stars continued glittering down upon them though like angels from Heaven, ensuring him the silence wasn't dragging on for days and days. The moon shone down on both of them, cloaking them in its milky rays.

Finally she spoke.

"Thank you."

Silence.

"I feel better now." She frowned. "I don't know why I do though."

Paul laughed. A short laugh.

Dawn looked up at him, her frown deepening.

"I mean, I don't how _you _could have possibly made me feel better."

There was another silence.

As Paul watched her, her blue hair flowing in the breeze, bangs covering her eyes, he saw her hand slowly reach up to her face, as if to wipe something way. For a moment, he feared she may start crying again.

But then she turned to look at him for a minute and he saw that her eyes were actually dry. She turned away from him again and turned back towards the lake. She began walking towards the cliff again where the lake waited below it.

Unconsciously, Paul followed her.

Kricketots and Kricketunes began to sing their nightly songs from the forest, and as Paul became closer to the edge of the cliff, the clearer he could see the silver moonlit lake below, sprinkled with the reflections of stars from overhead.

"The lake looks so beautiful at night…" Paul looked over at the girl next to him before turning back to the lake, nodding in agreement at her words.

Briefly he wondered if the lake would be the same shade of Dawn's blue irises in sunlight.

He collected memories of when he had seen the lake during the daytime, and he came to the conclusion it probably would be the same shade.

"Well, um… I should go now," Paul turned to the blunette who smiled sheepishly at him, scratching the back of her head. "I… I'll see you later?"

Paul just gave a small grunt in reply, turning his eyes back to the lake.

She hesitated before actually going, appearing reluctant. Finally though, she turned away, her feet dragging as she walked back into the forest to prepare herself a makeshift bed of a blanket laid out on the ground.

Paul turned back around to stare at the spot she disappeared.

_I should be going to, _he decided after a moment.

He began walking in the opposite direction he heard Dawn going, but not before casting one last glance at the shimmering lake that glittered with moonlight.

Looking into the dark blue depths of the lake for one last time, he couldn't help but be reminded of a certain pair of blue eyes. In his mind he saw the reflection of those blue eyes on the lake's surface.

And in his mind, they were all he could see.

_.x._

"Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind;  
and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind."  
- William Shakespeare

"_When I look at you, I see forgiveness, I see the truth;  
You love me for who I am like the stars hold the moon"  
~When I Look At You, Miley Cyrus_

* * *

**Happy Ikarishipping Day! (:**

**Soooo, this is my new story. This story isn't going to be very long, only five chapters, and the chapters won't be mega-long either (unlike some of my other stories...heheheh...). I'm gonna TRY to update this by next week, but don't be suprised if I don't. (; (I suck at keeping promises; they break me. D;). So, every chapter will focus somewhat on one of the five senses, and this story will have sort-of a plotline. I've been wanting to post this story up for a while though since it's original (I think it is anyway... I hadn't seen a story like this before... but then again it's not like I was looking for one... eh, either way. :P).**

**Leave a review? :D Also don't hesitate to tell me if you see a mistake, and have a wonderful, fantastic, marvelous, ikari-licious Ikarishipping Day! (:**


	2. Few Love to Hear

**Five Senses**

**Day Two  
****Hear**

"Few love to hear the sins they love to act"  
-William Shakespeare

"_It's really good to hear your voice saying my name; It sounds so sweet;  
__Coming from the lips of an angel; Hearing those words it makes me weak"  
__~Lips of an Angel, Hinder_

_.x._

When Paul went to bed last night, he was lulled to sleep by the sound of Kricketots and Kricketunes singing. When he woke up this morning, it was to the sound of Starlies chirping and merrily singing to one another. And when he had finished packing everything up and was about to continue on his way out of this forest, he stopped when he heard the voice of a certain blue-haired individual.

"And after we visit mom, we can compete in that one contest in Floaroma if we make it there in time. I would like to try out that new Bide-Whirlpool combination we've been practicing! Or would you rather if I used you for the Battle Rounds, and then used Quilava or Ambipom for the appeals?"

"Pip!"

Paul glanced around briefly, and then realized her voice was coming from behind him.

"Good idea. Ambipom could make use of her newly acquired ping-pong skills! She could use Swift and then bat the stars around and—"

"I see you're feeling better," Paul commented wryly as she came into view.

"Huh?" The blunette's head snapped up in shock and she stared wide-eyed at him, as if he was a new kind of pokémon she had never seen.

"P-Paul!" she exclaimed, a blush beginning to crawl across her nose and cheeks, painting them a light pink. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think I'm doing?" Paul snorted. "Going through this forest."

The blunette frowned.

"Where are you going though?" she questioned. "I'm heading to Twinleaf."

"I know," he stated. "I could hear you talking to that piplup of yours. And if you really must know, I'm heading to Veilstone City. I told you that last night, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Why are you going there?"

"Are you really that snoopy?" Paul asked, beginning to feel annoyed.

"Well, excuse me!" She huffed, one of her cheeks puffed out like a politoed as she glared at him. "I was just curious!"

"Curiosity killed the meowth," he responded coldly back, turning away. He could hear her growl as she shouted indignantly back, "Jerk!"

He could still hear her as she also turned away, now heading in a different direction as she rambled on to that blue penguin pokémon of hers. "Who the hell does he think he is, speaking to me like that? The nerve of that guy!"

"Piplup pip!" Her piplup chimed in agreement. Paul rolled his eyes.

"To think I thought he wasn't so bad after all! I mean, what is with him? He was being all nice and sweet to me last night, and now today he is acting like a total asshole to me! I swear, if I wasn't so nice I would…"

Her rambling died down from Paul's ears as he thought over her last few sentences.

She thought he was actually being sweet to her last night? Just because last night she was crying and he had… well, comforted her? Paul frowned. Well, a girl probably would consider it sweet of a guy if he did comfort her. But Paul usually wasn't the comforting type. He was never the type of guy to see a girl crying and then go up to her and try to make her feel better. Sure, seeing a girl crying made him feel awkward, but he never really did anything about it. So why had he stopped and comforted her when he turned around and realized she was crying? Maybe it was because he knew her.

_Yeah, that must have been the reason why, _Paul concluded. _Because I knew who she was. Because she had been Ash's and Brock's friend._

"Ash was right about that guy, Piplup, he is a—"

Paul sighed in annoyance, a scowl crossing his face. That girl was still rambling on about him? Annoyed, Paul began to focus his thoughts on something else, on his training, in order to tune out the girl's annoying voice. Unfortunately, Dawn's shrill and high-pitched voice wasn't the easiest to block out with thoughts, and after a minute, Paul gave up and concentrated on just ignoring the voice.

Soon enough, as the sun climbed higher into the sky, she began to talk about other things, such as coordinating and potential appeals she could use, and eventually, maybe an hour or so after he ate lunch, it was all quiet.

_I guess she finally ran out of things to say, _Paul thought to himself with amusement.

Soon enough, the sun began to sink into the sky once more, and it was getting close to nighttime. The sun was beginning to sink back into the earth, painting the landscape gold and scarlet. It was during that time that Paul heard what he thought was the most horrible noise he had ever heard.

_"AAAAHHHHHHHH!"_

Paul whipped around, recognizing the scream. His heart lurched in his chest, whether from surprise at the horrible scream that had suddenly torn through the silence, or from worry for the blue-haired girl and horror, he wasn't sure.

"DAWN!" he yelled, running in the direction he heard her scream coming from. He dodged tree branches and upturned roots, continuing to call her name. "Dawn! Dawn!"

"Piplup, pip, pip, LUUUUP!" Suddenly, from out of nowhere, her Piplup emerged from a bush, scratched up and frantic. "Lup, lup, PIPLUP!" He shrieked, waving frantically to up ahead and then starting to head in that direction. It glanced back him once and stopped, waving and shrieking some more. "PIPLUP!"

He nodded and followed the blue penguin, slowing down when he saw that familiar shade of blue. The girl was sitting on the ground, dried leaves and twigs in her hair, a pained look on her face as she tenderly touched her ankle which was bruised and swollen.

Whenever he had seen her, she always looked well put together and at her best. But now…

"What the hell happened to you?" he asked, shocked, and kneeled down beside her on one knee.

She glanced up at him, flinching slightly, before turning her gaze back to the ground, forcing a strained smile. "These spinaraks and ariadoses started attacking me and Piplup out of no where, and I guess I sort of freaked out and tripped over one of those upturned tree roots. I sort of fell on my ankle the wrong way, but no need to worry, I'm fine! And Piplup chased all of them off with a Bubblebeam!"

Smiling, reassuringly, she gripped a low-hanging branch from behind her and attempted to stand up, but Paul pushed her sternly back down.

"You are not fine," he told her. "Your ankle is at the least sprained, if not broken."

"Its fine," she insisted, attempting to stand up again. She grimaced at the effort, and Paul glared at her.

"No, you are not okay," he responded. "You're practically in tears just trying to stand up, so you might as well just sit back down."

She glared at him, but obediently sat back down.

He shrugged off his backpack and opened it up, taking out his first-aid kit. Dawn frowned at him, her hair falling over her shoulder as she tilted her head to the side.

"What are you doing?" she queried after a minute. He glanced at her for a moment, before turning his attention back to the first aid kit and taking out some disinfectant and a towel from his backpack.

"Helping you, obviously," he responded. She lowered her gaze onto the ground, pursing her lips as a small blush stretched across her face. Tenderly, Paul shifted her leg and lifted it up until the towel was underneath her ankle.

"Stay still, this will sting," he told her. Holding her foot down, he sprayed the disinfectant on her ankle. Dawn's eyes widened and she clamped her lips shut to muffle a scream; her leg jerked up, nearly kicking Paul in the face.

Paul glared at her, a scowl on his face, and her blush darkened.

"Sorry…" she apologized, sweat dropping and grinning sheepishly.

Quickly, Paul wrapped the gauze around her ankle, securely tying it so it wouldn't fall off.

"There," he said. "Now try to stand up; don't put too much on pressure your ankle." She nodded, grabbing his shoulder for support as she hauled herself up. Tenderly, she placed her right foot on the ground, careful not to put too much support on it.

"It doesn't hurt as much as it use to," she admitted quietly. She looked up at Paul, that blush reappearing on her cheeks. "Thank you."

"Whatever," he muttered, shrugging it off.

"Piplup…"

She glanced at Piplup then back to Paul and back to Piplup. "Um… well," she said, beginning to hop on her good foot to Piplup. "I… I should be going now. Um, thanks again for helping me."

Paul narrowed his eyes at her.

"You're not going anywhere," he told her. "You're useless on your own. Do you really think it's a good idea to be traveling in the dark with a bad ankle?"

"Well… no," she admitted, frowning. Then her frown turned into a glare and she crossed her arms. "And what do you mean I'm useless on my own?"

Paul smirked in amusement as her fiery attitude returned. "I mean, I see now why you were traveling with Ash and that one breeder. You're obviously no good on your own, considering that you already almost broke your ankle. And how many days, exactly, have you been traveling alone?"

She glared at him, her arms crossed in front of her chest, appearing reluctant to tell him.

"How many days have you been traveling alone?" he asked again.

"Pip…" Her piplup sighed.

Finally, she sighed too. "Only two days… Yesterday was the first day I started traveling alone."

"My point exactly."

She glared at him some more. "Well, I'm not going to stop traveling, if that's what you're suggesting!" she told him.

"I never said that," he responded coolly back. "I'm saying from now on you're traveling with me."

A startled look appeared on the blunette's face and her mouth dropped open. "W-wait!" she exclaimed. "Y-you would actually let me travel with you?" Something close to awe was evident in her eyes.

He shrugged. "Well, it wouldn't exactly be nice of me to ditch you in this forest with that injury of yours, and since you walk at the same pace I do, once your ankle heals you shouldn't slow me down too much."

Her frown disappeared for a moment as a look of thoughtfulness crossed her face. "But I'm a coordinator," she said after a moment. "Wouldn't that slow you down?"

"I can take a few side stops along the way," he responded. "I'm mainly just here in Sinnoh to check on my reserves at my brother's house, do some training, and then head off to Kanto to compete in the Battle Frontier there. I'm not doing anything too important here."

"So you… really wouldn't mind if I just… tagged along?" she asked, confused.

"No, I wouldn't mind," he responded. He then added wryly, "Unless you really do want to fend off all those bug pokémon all by yourself."

"No, no, I'm okay with traveling with you!" she replied quickly, waving her hands in front of her face. "So, uh, are we going to Veilstone?"

"Didn't you want to visit your mom?"

She blushed, nodding. "Yeah, but… you said you were going to Veilstone… and they're kind of in different directions…"

"We can go to Twinleaf and then head to Veilstone," he responded. "But we're not going anywhere tonight. It's dark out already, so you might as well set up your tent and get ready for bed."

She nodded.

About an hour later, her tent was up and ready, and she emerged from inside the tent dressed in a pink nightgown, her hair nicely combed, all the twigs and dead leaves plucked out, and no longer wearing those golden clips of hers or that beanie.

"Paul?" she called.

Paul turned from where he was sitting on a log, in front of a blazing fire he had created with some nearby logs and Marmortar's flamethrower, to turn toward her.

"What is it?" he asked. Was she checking to make sure he was still here and wasn't just joking when he said she could travel with him?

"Just wanted to make sure you were still here," she chirped merrily, confirming Paul's suspicions.

Paul just grunted, turning back to the campfire.

"And… I also wanted to say thanks… again… for helping me," she told him. He turned back to her, and he could see she was blushing again, a smile on her face. "It was really… sweet of you. And it was also considerate of you… to let me travel with you… I know I can be a bit of a klutz sometimes which usually gets me in trouble."

He shrugged indifferently, but a warm feeling was beginning to bubble inside his stomach at her words.

"It was nothing," he mumbled. "Besides, what else was I suppose to do?"

"You could have walked away," she told him, her smile widening so her dimples now showed. "But you didn't. You helped me. That's why it was so sweet of you." She then laughed, a bit sheepishly. "I didn't even know you were that close by. I guess you heard most of my rambling about you, eh?"

"Actually, I was kind of far away from you," he responded back. "But you have such a loud mouth, travelers from miles away probably could have heard you."

Surprisingly, she didn't look offended in the least by this statement. In fact, she just laughed, her eyes twinkling like the stars in the sky.

"Really? I figured that's how you found me. That you were just passing by or something."

"Your scream is ten times louder than when you're just talking," he pointed out. He continued a bit sheepishly, "I… I heard you scream and I figured you were either hurt or in trouble, so I began running in the direction I heard your scream come from…"

"Really?" She looked amazed at his confession. She bit her lower lip, fighting back a grin as the blush on her face darkened. Paul noticed this.

"You blush easily, don't you?" At his comment her pink blush turned crimson, the color flooding her whole face.

"N-No! Only when I'm with y—" She cut herself off, her blush deepening even more if possible. He raised an eyebrow. "I mean, um, I-I, uh… It's… it's late. I should be getting to bed right now. Um, good night!"

With that said, she quickly ducked back into her tent and zipped it up. Paul chuckled, amused.

_What a strange girl… _he thought to himself.

About half an hour later, he was starting to get ready for bed when he heard her talking again.

"You know what, Piplup, Paul isn't as bad as he use to be. Or maybe he's just being nicer now because Ash isn't here. Thinking of Ash, he probably wouldn't believe me if I told him about how much nicer Paul is now. What do you think?"

"Piplup!"

"Hm… I wonder what Ash would say if I told him I was traveling with Paul…"

"Pip…"

"You're right… I just shouldn't tell Ash about that."

"Piplup."

_I'm never going to get to sleep with her talking all night, _Paul thought to himself, sighing.

_.x._

"Praise does wonders for our sense of hearing."  
-Arnold H. Glasgow

"_Hear me; I'm cryin' out; I'm ready now; Turn my world upside down; Find me; I'm lost inside the crowd;  
It's getting loud; I need you to see; __I'm screaming for you to please; Hear me; Hear me"  
__~Hear Me, Kelly Clarkson_

* * *

**Wow, it is amazing how easy it is to write this story. I didn't even touch this chapter until today, and now it's done. (: Anyway, I would like to thank everybody who reviewed the last chapter. I really appreciate each and every reviw! ;) Also in case anybody was wondering why I mentioned Dawn having Ambipom in the beginning, it's because I figured that one ping-pong guy isn't going to have her forever, so why not give it back to Dawn? It's really her pokemon anyway, that guy was just training it. **

**Now, anybody care to leave another review? :D Also lemme know if you see a mistake so I can fix it! **


	3. Smells Just as Sweet

**Five Senses**

**Day Three  
****Smell**

"A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet."  
-William Shakespeare

"_Now you seem to be content with; A one-sided friendship with you, I've got to chase; Slow down so I can smell the roses;  
__But the road you chose is crooked and unpaved; My tires are spinning but to no avail."  
__~Ready For You, Hoobastank_

_.x._

"Mmm. It smells like rain," Dawn commented from beside him. He watched as she breathed in the sweet, musty smell, a smile on her face.

"I take it you like the smell of rain?" Paul said.

"Uh-huh. I also like the feel of rain, and how cool the air feels just minutes before it is about to rain. It's all nice and cool and refreshing. It's better than those scorching hot days," she mused.

"Well, it's not raining right now."

He looked up into the sky. It wasn't raining, but there was a whole mass of dark gray clouds stretching across the sky as far as the eye could see. The air was also cool and moist, as if it was misting. It wasn't raining now, but the future was definitely promising rain. Hard rain too, maybe even a downpour.

Turning his eyes away from the sky, he turned to Dawn.

"Get dressed and pack your stuff," he ordered. "We're leaving before the rain starts. I don't want to get caught in a downpour or anything."

"So bossy!" She huffed to herself, a grin playing on her lips.

About twenty minutes later she was ready and packed, in a fresh pair of her usual outfit that consisted of a black top, a white undershirt, and a pink mini-skirt. She also had her childish beanie back on her head and her gold clips back in place.

"Okay, lets go!" she yelled, grinning, her piplup in her arms like usual.

_Doesn't she ever get tired of carrying that pokémon around? _Paul wondered briefly.

"So which town are we heading to?" Dawn questioned eagerly. "Pastoria?"

Paul nodded. "Yeah, we're heading towards—" He paused, catching a whiff of something incredibly sweet and… alluring. It was something he had smelled when Dawn walked by him.

"What are you wearing?" He demanded, amazed that such an odor could be produced.

Usually, the only thing he could ever smell was forest, sweat, rain, the smoke from a campfire, and the food he was cooking or someone else was cooking.

Dawn's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion at first, but then she smiled at him. "It's called perfume, _dork_," she giggled. "Girls wear it all the time. I'm wearing a perfume that smells like vanilla."

Paul frowned.

She had just called him a _dork_. Not even his brother would dare call him that name.

He shook his head, warmth beginning to flood his cheeks.

"I knew that," he grumbled. "I was just wondering what kind it was." He began to walk past her, but then paused, the sweet aroma mixed with rain filling his nostrils again. "It smells good." Another blush warmed his cheeks, but he walked straight pass her, refusing to see what her facial expression was.

"Wait up Paul!" Dawn called after him. He turned around, and raised an eyebrow as he saw her hobbling after him.

Oh right. She sprained her ankle. That was the reason he had invited her to travel with anyway.

Trying his best not to sigh or seem impatient, he waited for her to catch up.

"So which town are we heading to?" she asked again.

"Well, like I said before,, we're heading to Pastoria, but our destination is Twinleaf," he said. "But it will take a few days to get there, so we may have to camp out in a forest or stay in a town for a few nights."

"This forest is pretty big…" she murmured quietly. Her eyes widened suddenly and a smiled graced her lips as she bent down, reaching out one hand to pluck up a flower with striking golden leaves. "It's a marigold!"

He raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"Did you know, marigold stems are scented?" she asked him as she caught up to him, piplup in her arms and flower still between her fingers.

"I know now," Paul sighed, trying not to show his irritation.

Really, like he wanted to know some stupid flower facts. He didn't care if the stem was scented or not, it wasn't like he was going to have his pokémon sniff the stems because that would just be pointless.

"Piplup!"

Paul glanced at the blunette through the corner of his eyes, turned his attention back to the path, then back at Dawn and nearly burst out laughing.

"You're actually sniffing the stem?" he said, a smirk gracing his lips. She shrugged.

"I wanted to see what it smelled like," she responded calmly back, although he could see her cheeks were tinged a light red in embarrassment. Forcing back another short chuckle, he asked, "What does it smell like?"

"Musky," she responded, cringing her nose. "And like dirt."

"It probably smells like dirt because it was in the earth," he said.

She rolled her eyes, a small smile settling on her face. "Obviously." She stuck out her hand with the flower in it. "Do you wanna smell it?"

He cringed. "No."

She stared at him for a second then shrugged, throwing the flower over her shoulder.

"I wonder what other flowers this forest has," she said thoughtfully after a moment, her head turning side from side as her eyes scanned the forest for flowers.

"You know, we're not in this forest to go flower hunting," he grumbled. "We're in this forest so we can get to your hometown, which I would like to get to in three days, not five."

"You need to learn how to slow down," she said, bending down again, this time to pluck up a white flower. "You need to slow down and smell the roses. Take a moment; not everything has to happen in a rush."

"I prefer everything to happen in a rush though," he responded blankly, continuing on ahead. She sighed, shaking her head.

"You know, something great for you could be right under your nose, and you would be too blind to see it because you're always in such a hurry. Not everything is a race, Paul."

"The only thing that would be great for me would be a strong pokémon," Paul responded, the words coming out more snappish than he meant. "And if I see a strong pokémon, I will make sure I get it. Everything else, doesn't matter to me." He turned to her. "Unless you think I need something else?"

She stared at him for the longest moment before shaking head and sighing softly to herself. "No, I don't." she responded quietly.

_Thought so._

She was strangely quiet after this, and he had to glance back a few times to make sure she was still behind him. She remained a few feet behind him, her face usually down with her bangs covering her eyes. The first time he had glanced at her he had briefly wondered if she was crying. Her cheeks were completely dry though. Even so, her silence and the way she was dragging her feet with her head down, were unnerving to him.

After thinking over the last words he said to her, he started to wonder if he had offended her somehow and that was the reason for her silence.

He glanced over his shoulder again and saw she had disappeared.

_Hey, where did she go? Arceus, that girl is troublesome._

"Hey, Troublesome," he called out. No response. Sighing irritably he went to look for her; he found her only a moment later, laying cross-legged on the ground in front of a patch of bright red flowers.

She glanced at him briefly, then turned back to the flowers. She spun about two or three of the small red flowers between her index and middle finger.

"What are those?" he asked.

"Poppies," she responded immediately. "They symbolize death or eternal sleep."

Paul raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. He watched her as she twirled the poppies between her fingers, the wind blowing her hair which caressed her cheeks. The wind, which still smelled of rain, blew one of the poppies out of her hand and Paul caught it. He held it out for her to take, and without looking at him, she took it, murmuring a quiet "thanks" in response.

"Do these flowers have any scent in particular?" he asked, smirking slightly as he remembered her smelling the last flower's stem.

She gave the flower a small sniff before shaking her head.

"Not really."

A few more minutes passed and he sighed, and looking up into the sky, he could see the golden outline of the sun behind a cloud, and although still high in the sky, was gradually beginning to sink lower and lower with every passing seconds.

"C'mon, Troublesome, we have to go," he said. She glanced at him over her shoulder before turning back to her poppies for a few moments. Slowly, she stood up, letting all but one poppy fly out of her hand.

"Troublesome?" she said. She was frowning, obviously upset. "Do you even know my name?"

Paul stared at her for a moment, frowning in confusion. Her frown deepened, but she just shook her head and walked pass him, her head down again.

"Whatever. Lets just go…" she said, another small sigh passing her lips.

He followed after her, and once they were walking side by side again, he snatched her poppy from her hand.

"Hey!" she cried.

He smirked, twirling the poppy between his two fingers like she once had.

"'A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet,'" he said, reciting the famous Shakespear line. They paused. He tucked a blue lock behind her ear, earning a blush from her, before placing the small red poppy in her hair, securing it so the cold breeze couldn't blow it away. His eyes locked with hers, and he was surprised by the intensity of his own stare.

"Your name is Dawn…" he said quietly. Her blush darkened, quickly spreading to her whole face. They continued staring into the other's eyes, both mesmerized by the beauty of the other's eyes color, both unable to look away.

Piplup looked between both trainers, sensing something between them.

"Pip?"

Finally, Dawn turned sheepishly away, her blush still painted across her nose and cheeks.

"I-I think we're nearing the end of this forest," she said quietly. "I can see a town up ahead."

Paul turned away, and saw it too.

"Then lets go," he said.

Dawn stayed side by side with him this time, her injured ankle forgotten about as she smiled pleasantly up ahead, Paul's words still echoing in her ears. Paul was also thinking over the same thing, a small smile on his lips.

They arrived in the town almost half an hour later.

Paul glanced up at the sky and then checked the watch on his wrist, and saw it was still early, only three o'clock.

"Lets stop here for about an hour or two and get some supplies, then we'll head out again," he told her.

She nodded in agreement, and followed him into the pokémart where they both stocked up some potion, poké balls, and other needed supplies. Paul even bought her some medicine for ankle and pain killer.

"Hey, Paul, what do you usually eat for dinner?" she asked from the food row.

"Mostly soup or beans," he responded. "Why?"

"That's all?" she said, looking surprised.

"Unless I'm down my brother's house, yes, that is all I usually eat," he replied.

"That's no dinner," she snorted, grabbing at something that was canned. "I'm going to cook you a real dinner tonight!" she declared, grinning. He raised an eyebrow.

"You can cook?"

Her face quickly deflated, a sour expression crossing her face. "Yes, I can cook," she said through gritted teeth. "Brock taught me how to cook before he went back home to Kanto, plus he gave me some of his recipes."

"So you cook good?" he asked.

She was silent for a while.

"I'm getting better," she responded after a moment of silence. Paul sighed. Defensively, she added, "I know how to cook stew perfectly and chicken! Ash says my stew is almost as good as Brock's! It's just the casseroles I have trouble with."

"Whatever," he said. "Just hurry up and get whatever you're gonna get." She narrowed his eyes at him, but said nothing, hurriedly gathering up ingredients she could use to cook dinner until they reached her mother's house.

About a little more than ten minutes later, everything was paid for and they headed out for the forest once more. The sun had sunk into the earth once more when they were about an hour into the forest. After they found a big enough clearing, they decided to set up camp.

"Cyndaquil, use Flamethrower!"

"Cyndaaaa!"

Paul turned to see the small pokémon release a stream of fire from it's mouth, the red spots on it's back blazing with fire. The logs Dawn had collected to build a campfire caught fire, and he saw Dawn smile and she seemed to be glowing as she gazed into the campfire. The red poppy he had placed in her hair was still there, also glowing with the glow of the campfire.

Paul stood there, watching her like he had watched her when she was sitting down by the poppies, even when she walked away from the campfire and disappeared into the darkness to receive the supplies she needed to cook dinner from her backpack. He watched her as she worked, almost as if fascinated by the way she worked. Soon enough the appealing smell of roasting chicken began to overpower the smell of the campfire.

He saw her glance back over her shoulder, smiling, when she saw him watching her.

"Dinner's almost ready," she told him, sitting next to him on the same log he currently sat on.

"It smells good," he commented quietly. "What are you making?"

"Roasted chicken with mash potatoes and gravy," she answered. "And for a side dish you can have a fruit salad and-or some vegetables."

"Sounds good," he said after a while.

It would be the best dinner he had since going back to his and Reggie's house about two weeks ago…

She smiled before going back to the dinner she was cooking. About a minute later she yelled, "Dinner's ready!" About five minutes later she came back with two plates in her hand. She handed the plate with more food on it to him.

He looked at the food she placed on his lap, breathing in the sweet, sweet scent of the chicken leg and the fruity aroma of watermelon, strawberries, grapes, and kiwis. The scent floated around him, bathing him in their aroma. He glanced quick back at Dawn.

She smiled encouragingly at him. "Try it!" she said. Her eyes softened and they widened slightly. "Please? Tell me how it is. I promise I didn't poison it."

At this last part, Paul smirked slightly, before grabbing the chicken leg and taking a bite out of it. It felt sort of weird having somebody, nonetheless Dawn, watch him as he ate, waiting for his opinion on the food he was eating.

Much to his surprise, the food tasted just as good as it smelled, considering it was probably one of her first times cooking. In fact, the food rivaled his brother's cooking.

"This is really good," he told her, after swallowing his bite. She grinned at this, and clasped her hands together, her eyes lighting up in excitement. He took another bite of his food, and soon enough, he devoured the whole plate of food in front of him. He went back for seconds, and had just finished his second plate when Dawn finished her first.

She giggled from beside him. "So my food is really that good?" she asked.

His mouth being full of food, and not wanting to be rude or disgusting, he nodded. She smiled in satisfaction, a small blush painting her cheeks.

It was probably somewhat close to midnight by the time they were all cleaned up from supper, and were ready for bed. Dawn had showered only earlier in a stream nearby, and now smelled like a mix of sweet strawberries and tempting vanilla.

Paul could clearly smell the sweet scents as they laid together (about two meters apart) under the night sky, the twinkling stars and the ghost like moon shining down on them now that the clouds have dispersed.

"Traveling with you is a lot different than I ever would have imagined." Dawn's soft voice broke the stillness of the night.

Paul turned towards her and raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

She also turned towards him, and sitting up, she hugged her knees and laid her chin between her knees.

"You're a lot different than I thought," she clarified. "If I started traveling with you, say, a few months ago or even a few weeks ago, like sometime before the league, I would have expected you to be a lot more demanding than you really are. I also would have expected you to be a lot more impatient with me, especially now since I have a sprained ankle, but you're actually quite patient with me. You're just…a lot different than I thought. A lot nicer."

"That's nice." He said flatly.

She laughed; the laugh had the soft rhythm of bells during Christmas time.

"You're a lot different around than you were when you were around Ash," she said. "With Ash, all you wanted to do was battle him and defeat him. I guess now that Ash is gone I get to see a different side of you; the side of you that isn't all about battling and strong pokémon."

He shrugged, turning his gaze back to the star-filled sky. "Well, just consider yourself lucky then; not everybody gets to see this 'side' of me."

"I do consider myself lucky…" she whispered, smiling.

"Good night, Paul," she told him before he could respond or had a chance to ponder over any secret meaning in her previous words.

Paul smiled to himself, the smell of perfume and nature in his nose as he got lulled to sleep by the soft whisper of trees brushing each other.

_.x._

"Behave so the aroma of your actions may enhance the general sweetness of the atmosphere."  
-Henry David Thoreau

"_Wake up smell the roses; Life is happening and you don't know it;  
Wake up, take a moment; Grab it in your hands… and own it."  
__~Smell the Roses, Natasha Bedingfield_

* * *

**Sorry for the long wait! D: Got a minor writer's block half-way through this one, haha. o.o; Again, sorry! I'll try not to take as long next time! At least this one was longer than the other two though! The next chapter is 'feel', so hopefully it'll be easier than this one. **

**Anyway, hoped you liked this chapter. I filled with all kinds of sweet and fluffy moments to gush about just for you. :]**

**Review? 8D**


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